


Desolation

by raidbossmadi



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergent, Family Issues, Gen, Pre-Canon, The Twins are not seperated at birth, Troy confronts his own mortality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 12:43:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20639360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raidbossmadi/pseuds/raidbossmadi
Summary: A short series of interconnected drabbles about the Calypso twins set before the game.





	1. Parasite

**Author's Note:**

> Theres Spoilers for Borderlands 3 in this fic you have been warned. 
> 
> I wrote this as a bit of an exploration of the twins character to get a feel for writing them. I hope you enjoy!

He was a parasite, a mistake. His very existence a cosmic joke that had gone too far. There was no such thing as a Male Siren, or at least there shouldn’t be, yet here he was, an affront to the very fabric of the universe. 

Troy knew this, no matter how many times Tyreen tried to assure him she didn’t mind having a brother who literally couldn’t give her personal space. Sure their parents had tried their damnedest to make the twins feel normal, but that just made Troy feel insulted at times. 

It was strange being connected to someone by the shoulder blade, it was Tyreen's shoulder, but he could still feel it. It was like having an itch in your bones, he could tune it out, but the second Tyreen would grab something quickly or stretch suddenly, the sensation would be front and center. He supposed it wouldn’t be so bad if he could control their shared arm but the most he manage of it was a slight twist of their wrist or the smallest twitch of a finger. Tyreen didn’t like it when he tried to do it either, and hurting her was enough to put him off trying after a while. 

Then there was a constant fatigue that plagued him no matter how much sleep he got. Troy had grown accustomed to Tyreen slapping him awake when he’d dozed off in the middle of their mother’s lessons. He’d repeatedly plead his case to their mother he wasn’t disinterested, he just couldn’t stay awake sometimes. 

That had been the start of the tests, the poking and prodding every couple of days as their parents tried to work out what was making him sick. The answer should have been obvious in hindsight, the problem was Tyreen, or rather the genes she passed to her conjoined brother. Male sirens weren’t supposed to exist, so he couldn’t produce the right type of cells but his sister could. He was leeching them off Tyreen, limiting her ability to access the inherent powers of a siren and making himself sick. 

Their father kept mentioning surgical separation and Troy couldn’t deny it scared him. He knew that his chances of survival were much lower than Tyreens, that he might not even have a chance of survival once separated from his twin.

* * *

They were sitting on the ridge just outside the house as the cool night air teased their hair, looking up at the stars. 

“Do you remember what mom said?” Tyreen asked. Troy waited for her to continue, their mother had said a lot of things and he didn’t know which of them Tyreen was referring to. 

“About?” He prompted when the silence between them had gone on past the usual length. 

“Binary star systems. How the gravity of one star keeps the other close… that’s like us isn’t it?”

“Are you implying that your gravity is too heavy?” He smirked and ruffled the back of her hair. 

“Wow Troy way to ruin a moment.” She teased back. “No! What I was trying to say is maybe some things are just meant to be too close.” 

He resisted the urge to snark back again, he could tell Tyreen was trying to be serious. He had often wondered if Tyreen resented him as without him she would just be a normal girl. These worries were never voiced but he suspected she knew he had them, there was a feeling he got when Tyreen was upset about something. An emotion that wasn’t his own but wasn’t strange at the same time, it went both ways the emotional telepathy they seemed to possess. 

Instead he just sighed wistfully and turned his attention back to the sky. “You’ll see them some day, the other planets out there. I know you will, and everyone will know that you’re the brightest star of them all.” 

This planet was a cage, one he knew he’d probably die before he’d leave, but Tyreen, she had the whole damn universe to see. He knew that sooner or later something would give and Tyreen would get her way, she was a Siren after all. 

_ “We.”_ She corrected. 

He cocked a brow at her. “Huh?” 

“You referred to me in the singular tense, again. How many times do I have to tell you we’re doing this together.” She was giving him that look she always did when she was displeased with what he was saying. 

“Yeah yeah, sorry you know you inherited all of the brains, eh sis?” 

“Right such a shame we have two heads and one’s full of nothing” She reached up and flicked him on the forehead the both of them devolving into giggles.

* * *

“M’Sorry Ty-dye.” Troy blubbered.

“Ty-dye,_really?_” Tyreen merely sighed and reached up to wipe his nose. “You’re such a baby when you're delirious you know that right? Now hold still I don’t want you to get snot in my hair.” 

“It’s just not fair y’know… that you have to put your plans on hold just because I’m sick.” 

“Oh no what a shame I can’t take a walk through mom's garden for the _eighth _ time this week.” She said over-dramatically. She waited for him to settle again after he’d shifted around the pillows and blankets on his side of the bed before wringing out the rag their mother had left in a bucket of water and placing it on her twins forehead. “Besides even if we’re weren’t attached I’d still be here doing this because that’s what big sisters do.” 

Tyreen tried her best to be reassuring during these times but she couldn’t deny, it was hard sometimes. Troy looked awful and she couldn’t help worrying, it could be an annoyance when she was trying to sleep but he was up all night coughing up a lung or puking. She could never say that, she had a duty as the healthy twin and that was to keep Troy calm during these episodes.

If he ever found out how scared she was at times, she wasn’t sure what she’d do, she was the one with the plan, the one who made things better. She couldn’t imagine what would happen if her resolve slipped, so it never did. As long as Troy got better that was all that mattered.


	2. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Troy is getting sicker, it's starting to affect Tyreen too. Something has to be done.

“Tyreen! Calm down!” Troy tried to soothe his twin, his hand running through her hair as she stomped her foot angrily. 

“No! Troy! Don’t you see, they want to kill you!” She tilted her head back to look up at him tears welling up in her eyes. He reached over to wipe them away. 

“Shhh, you know that’s not true…you’re starting to get sick too Ty-Dye, they’re just worried they don’t want to lose us.” 

“So they’ll just choose to risk sacrificing you so they can keep me? You’ve got it worse than I do Troy, I’m a full person they know I’m going to be fine… but they… they can’t promise you the same.” She reached behind her grabbing his wrist, her fingers tracing the red looping lines that contrasted the blue ones on her arm. 

“I don’t want to go on in the world without you, you’re my brother, my twin.” She protested. 

“Yeah and, you’re a Siren. Your life is worth more than mine anyway…” he was interrupted by a sudden slap to the face which left his cheek stinging. “Ow!”

“Don’t you dare Troy, don’t you dare talk about yourself like that!” She growled a fire blazing in her icy blue eyes. “If being a Siren means my life is worth more than yours I don’t want to be a siren.” With renewed fury she turned back to face their parents who sat across from their children. 

“Dad are you hearing this! Look what you’re doing, what you’ve done! Troy thinks he doesn’t matter!” 

Their father sighed “Tyreen, your mother and I aren’t making this decision lightly. We love you both very much, if we didn’t we would have done this when you were born before we could get attached to either of you.” 

“But Tyreen sweetheart, Troy’s immune system is rejecting the Siren cells you’re passing to him through your blood. He’s going to keep getting sicker and so are you.” Their mother interjected it was becoming ever clearer that there was no getting through to their parents. They had already made up their minds, and the twins were the ones who had to live with it. 

Tyreen huffed then hung her head dejectedly she had lost. She never lost. 

_ I’m sorry Troy._

* * *

The twins were rushed into the makeshift operating room their father had built. He had put this off long enough, Tyreen had been coughing up blood for the past hour and he was afraid that if they waited any longer he’d lose them both. He was by no means a professional but he had enough understanding of anatomy to figure out what he needed to do to separate the twins. 

He looked down at their unconscious form this was something no father should ever have to do, but it was for the best. 

The door clicked shut as his wife walked in. He had wanted to protest that she shouldn’t be here but he knew that she was stalwart in her decision and he could use the extra set of hands. 

* * *

Tyreen woke with a start. 

Her back ached and her mind was still foggy from the sedatives that kept her and her twin unconscious during the operation they had just underwent . She was keenly aware of the lack of weight on her aching right side. She felt better, stronger than she ever had before. It was freeing to feel like her body wasn’t trying to fight itself, was this what it was like to be normal? Suddenly it made sense,Troy had been frail, a parasite leeching off of her since they were born of course she would feel better not having to support him. 

Then came a feeling of hollowness and dread. It cut through her drugged addled thoughts and clawed her heart, she felt immensely guilty for her feelings. Troy was her brother and it wasn’t his fault he’d been the weaker of the two them. She locked these thoughts away in the darkest corner of her mind no one needed to know about them, especially not Troy. 

She blinked in the light, it was too much, too bright. She whimpered but then felt a gentle hand on hers. 

“Easy there Starlight,” Her father's voice was calm and soothing. She opened her eyes again and saw him peering down at her from the bedside. “How are you feeling?” 

“Hurts...where's Troy,” She slurred looking around the room to see if perhaps they’d been kept in the same one. To her dismay the room was far too small for that. 

“Take these.” Her father said extending a palm with two pills balanced on it, then grabbed a glass of water off the nightstand. 

His skipping of the question hadn’t flown under the radar and as soon as she swallowed the pills she repeated it through gritted teeth. “Where.Is.Troy.” 

She watched as her father sagged back into the chair. “Starlight… I’m sorry I truly am. Your brother didn’t make it.” 

** “WHAT!”** The lamp in the corner of the room exploded leaving only the sunlight filtering in from the window for light. 

“The stress was of being separated was too much for his body to handle, it shocked his system and there was nothing we could do. Your mother is with him saying her goodbyes right now.” 

Tyreen ripped the IV from her arm and rose from the bed despite her father's protests. It hurt, but the pain in her heart hurt more. She knew this was going to happen why hadn’t they listened to her! Troy didn’t deserve this, she should have been the one to die, it was all her fault. If she hadn’t been born a Siren then she wouldn’t have been killing him sure they might not have lived a normal life being conjoined and all but they made it work. Now all of that was taken away. 

She followed the sound of her mother’s sobs and stormed into the room. 

“Tyreen?!” Her mother gasped as she entered “Sweetheart , you should go back to bed. You shouldn’t see this.” 

“He’s my brother. I want to see him.” She hissed and her mother acquiesced stepping aside to let her daughter approach. 

It looked like Troy was sleeping. His right side a mess of bandages and his hair usually spiked up was laying flat on his face. Of course all signs of life from the Male twin were completely absent. 

“Oh Troy… I’m so sorry.” Tyreen croaked her legs giving out and she collapsed on the ground in sobs. This was all her fault, Troy deserved to live as much as she did. They were supposed to get off this shitbag planet they’d spent the majority of their lives on and finally see the galaxy. Now those dreams crumbled to ash around her. 

“I know it’s hard sweetheart. If there was something I could do… if I could take his place you know I would in a heartbeat.”

As soon as her mother said that it was like a lightbulb went off in Tyreens head. She wiped the tears from her eyes and store at the blue lines snaking around her arm. Maybe being a Siren was useful after all. 

“Then you will.” Before anything else could happen Tyreen rose and grabbed her mother by the neck her tattoos and eyes going bright blue as she did. She watched as her mother struggled against her grasp as the life seeped out of her, her body hardening into Eridium and ash as her life force was drawn into her daughter. 

Tyreen turned back to her twin and put a hand on his chest, shuddering slightly as she felt how cold it was. The glow danced on her fingertips and flowed into Troy’s body until there was nothing left to give him. 

The seconds after passed by like years before he jerked took a large gulping breath like someone who had just been pulled up from drowning. Slowly his eyes opened revealing the icy gaze that was identical to her own.

“Ty...reen?” His voice was raspy and tired but she couldn’t help herself from smiling and nodding. 

“Troy! You’re alright. We’re both alright!” Ok that was a bit of a lie but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him what happened just yet. She was just elated that she hadn’t lost him, the weight of her actions rolling off her shoulders. 

“Dad! Dad! Look, Troy’s alright!” She exclaimed as she saw their father stumbled in taking in the scene before him. A look of horror crossing his face as realised what exactly his daughter had done.


	3. Co-Dependence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Deleon family tries to find the normalcy they desperately need to return to.

Their father dragged Tyreen by the wrist back to her room, and she had been too stunned to do anything other than follow after. 

“What did you do Tyreen?!” He ordered with the respect his title demanded. He was far too upset at what he had just witnessed his daughter do to handle this with the gentleness that she needed. 

“I don’t…” she caught herself, she did know what she had done. She knew exactly what she had done even in the anger fuelled haze that had lead her to take her mother’s life. “I couldn’t let Troy die, and she wanted me to do it. Mom offered her life in exchange for Troy’s so I did what had to be done.” 

She crossed her arms and looked at her father with a gentle look as she sat down on the edge of her bed. She knew what she had done was wrong but her twin meant more than anything to her and the idea of going through life without him was unthinkable to her. 

“I’m sorry dad. You can punish me if you want to, I probably deserve it.” Images of being handcuffed and thrown in the old cell block of her father's spaceship crossed her mind. 

“Starlight, I’m not going to punish you… I, I just need time to process this all I think. You should rest, your still recovering after all.” Their father said. The words cut through the adrenaline and emotions Tyreen had been running on and hit her straight on. She laid back in bed, falling into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

It wasn’t easy, coming to terms with the new reality of her life. She had always thought that being separated from her brother would make things easier and while it had, the new slew of problems that arose were staring her straight in the face like a hungry animal. She had never had access to her Siren abilities until now, yet she had used them like they were second nature, while Tyreen had recovered nicely that didn’t mean things were going easy.

Troy was now the full focus of both her and her father, while he was alive now, he still wasn’t stable. They were working through it though, Tyreen would give him a boost when he needed it by draining the life out of the local wildlife, she had gotten good at luring them in and trapping them. The power boost they gave her was nominal but it did make her wonder what draining something more powerful would do. 

She had also been helping her father strip parts from the ship and the robotic crew on board to use for building Troy a replacement arm. It wouldn’t be the most well designed arm given what they were working with but their father was an accomplished mechanical engineer and was able to fashion a fairly useful design out of what they had. 

He had also torn the neural link and spinal support out of one of the old crew, being the component that would allow the arm to work at all on top of the realisation that sixteen years of being conjoined to Tyreen had left Troy with an underdeveloped spine that would need the support to function properly. 

All they had to do now was set the attach everything to Troy, and that would be the hard part.

* * *

“Hey, Hey! Look at me. It’s alright.” Tyreen’s voice soothed. 

Troy opened his eyes, the room was much too bright so he squinted to make it more tolerable. His thoughts were swimming but he did as Tyreen asked and looked at her. She was sitting in front of him, he didn’t recognise where they were but as he came around he did realise that he couldn’t feel anything. His eyes darted around the room and his breathing began to hitch. 

“Shhhh, shhh, relax. It’s ok.” Tyreen soothed again and she reached forward to stroke his cheek comfortingly. “Dad’s just plugging in the neural link and that means you have to be awake to make sure he doesn’t poke you in the wrong part of the brain.” 

He scowled at her “Tyyyy that’s not very funny.” 

“Oh don’t be such a big baby.” She poked him on the tip of the nose the humor was there to keep herself calm as well as him. He whined but from the look in his eyes she could tell her teasing was working. 

“Alright, you’re going to feel some pressure,like a light pinch. If it hurts or something feels wrong say something.” Their father said. 

Troy held his breath and Tyreen took his hand in hers. Moments passed by like hours until he felt exactly what his father said, a light pinch at the back of his skull. Once that was done he felt something else, something he had never felt before; it was like a fire coursing through his right side. 

Tyreen felt his nails dig into the palm of her hand as it happened. “Dad! Somethings wrong, it’s hurting him!” She hissed. 

“It will pass, it’s just his nerves connecting for the first time. Take a couple deep breaths son, easy now. When you feel able to try and move it.” 

Troy did as their father asked and found that he was right the pain subsiding to something more manageable as he calmed. As his mind cleared he could feel the foreign object that was connected to him, of course not having been born with a right arm it felt unwieldy and strange. He found that he couldn’t instinctively control it the way he could his left arm, he had to think about it like he was instructing someone else to do something. 

Fingers curl. He watched as the metallic fingers of the arm curled inward on themselves into a fist and thought along those lines again to get the wrist to turn. 

“Good, at least we know it’s calibrated properly. It’ll take some getting used to but it’s better than nothing right?” Their father remarked and Tyreen made a soft noise of approval. 

“Yeah it’s pretty cool. Looks like I won’t have to annoy you to help me reach something any more Ty.” He said with a smirk. 

“No but that means you can finally help me get things down from the top shelf.” She shot back. 

It was nice to get a moment of normalcy between the three of them after all they'd been through. It almost made up for growing up on a planet that was a dying rock in the middle of nowhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this fic and if you want to contact me I can be found on twitter as raidbossmadi


End file.
